


Tear me down (so I can feel)

by ilyiccia



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, First work!!, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, i don’t know how to tag, sorry hehe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27432805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilyiccia/pseuds/ilyiccia
Summary: Neo is used to feeling numb. Roman changes that in more ways than one.
Kudos: 5





	Tear me down (so I can feel)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there!! I’m ilya and m’new to posting on AO3!! I’ve been reading fics here for years so I’m real excited to have my own account! Idk if I’ll be very active but I hope to write more!! 
> 
> Anyways, this fic was based on the prompt ‘Neopolitan + Roman + Rage’ given to me on Tumblr. I apologise if there mistakes but I hope you enjoy!! <3

Neo is used to feeling numb. 

It’s a given really. She grew up on the streets, surrounded by people who looked right through her when she begged for help with pleading eyes. They never understood her, never bothered to even try. She was a ghost, floating through empty alleys as the world moved on without her. Her own world was small and dark and cold but Neo had no will to care. Ghosts don’t need to feel. There is no need for emotions when you’ve been forgotten by the world. So Neo has lived in a deafening silence, allowing herself to grow numb and never caring for the consequences of it. 

But then Roman came along and it was like someone had lit a candle meant to chase out the dark her life. 

She still remembers vividly the first time their eyes had met. She was younger then, more naive perhaps, but she had seen something within Roman that she has never seen before. Roman saw something in her too, it had seemed, and he had held out its hand toward her with that signature smile and offered her something she could not refuse. Freedom. Not that she would have refused anyway. It didn’t matter how much or how little he could promise her, Roman saw her- really saw her- and in that moment, for just a second, Neo had felt something other than numb. 

The time she spent with Roman was... interesting to say the least. They still spent a lot of their time on the streets but it was different than before. The alleys seemed warmer and brighter, and Neo moved though them with more of a skip in her step. She would bounce along, hanging on to Roman’s arm as he told her about the world. He spun her stories of huntsmen and Grimm and the plans he had for the future. 

Roman never wanted to be a huntsmen. There was no gratitude in his words when he spoke of them, no respect or admiration. He seemed more determined to better them, to prove power could come from somewhere other than destroying Grimm. He was more sympathetic toward Grimm than most and Neo understood it well. There was something about the creatures cast in shadows that they could both relate to in a way that the huntsmen in their cushy academies could never understand. 

He taught her about emotions too. They were hardest for her to understand. He showed her how to smile, pulling up her cheeks and holding the expression himself for as long as it took for her to copy. 

She never held the expression for very long. It was foreign and uncomfortable and seemed rather pointless when she didn’t even really understand joy. But she obliged for Roman’s sake because it made him smile back, and she knew that was good. 

Time went by and the grew up. The novelty of youth began to wear off as ignorance fell away, leaving in its place the bitter taste of constant uncertainty. Neo never cared all that much though. She had Roman to lead her through the valleys of the unknown and she took his hand gladly as they skipped along into the horizon. 

Perhaps time had coached the muscles in her face into finding a smile a more natural position for she could no longer surpass a small grin creeping across her face at times. And though she still did not truly understand the real feeling of joy, it was no longer such a foreign thing. 

The numbness worked away inside her though, ensuring that the joy never outstayed its welcome. 

Time passed; things changed. Roman grew out his hair and Neo grew taller just a little tiny bit each day. For a while everything was fine. Then a tall woman with dark hair and burning eyes and two teenagers trailing behind her appeares and everything changes very suddenly. 

Roman has a lot of talks with that talk lady. Neo isn’t invited to many of them. All she really knows about her is that her name is Cinder Fall and her boss is interested in Roman. She also learns the teenagers are called Emerald and Mercury and they seem rather uninterested in her. She is reminded of her time as ghost in the alleys and the numbness takes ahold. She decides she doesn’t like them and leaves it at that. 

The next few moths were a blur of missions and espionage and big Atlas robots. It’s fine mostly and although Neo doesn’t much trust Cinder and her uninviting sidekicks she cannot deny they bring good work. 

Then one day they decide to burn a school to the ground and everything goes to absolute shit. 

It’s not bad at first. It’s amazing actually. The fear, the chaos and the smell of burning that soars through the air. They hijak and airship. It’s rather levitating. But out of nowhere a cocky little huntress-to-be that’s been pestering them for months appears to spoil their fun. 

They’ve fought her before. Never won but technically never lost either. But little red always seemed to find them just as they’re about to accomplish something big. Neo would almost think her smart- psychic even- if it weren’t for the fact she was clearly a pathological idiot with an obnoxious amount of self righteousness. 

The battle on the airship should have been in the bag, and once finished Neo could return to the chaos she and Roman so desperately craved. Except she miscalculated, misinterpreted, missed something because suddenly she was falling to the ground, barely saved by her prized parcel. 

Neo waits for Roman on the ground. Messages his scroll repeatedly and begs for an answer. It never comes. She waits there for days and nothing comes through and she knows what that means but she won’t let herself believe it. 

Roman is dead. He has to be. It should be impossible and yet it is the most probable explication. This fact alone tears her apart, eats away at her insides and burns her alive as she desperately tries to ignore it.

Roman is dead because of Ruby Rose and her ignorant meddling. Roman is dead because of Cinder Fall and her incompetence. Roman is dead and Neo loathes the loneliness she feels because of it. The one good thing in her life has been taken away. Her candle, her guiding hand has left and she is a ghost once more. 

Neo is used to feeling numb but now that feeling seems so foreign. Their is something new inside her burning hot and desperate. It screams and twist angrily within her as it begs for revenge. 

The numbness has subsided and now Neo is fuelled by burning rage.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m sorry if this wasn’t the best, I’m still pretty new to writing n stuff but I hope to keep learning and improving!! You can find me on Tumblr here https://ilyiccia.tumblr.com/ if ya wanna check that out! Tysm for reading; I hope y’all have an absolutely wonderful day ♡


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